Great American Family
Great American Family is an American cable television network. Owned by Great American Media, it broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies.
Country
United States
Nationwide
English
- HDTV 1080i
- Downgraded to letterboxed SDTV feed
December 31, 1995
Great American Country (1995–2021)
GAC (1995–2013; secondary branding throughout run of network)
GAC Family (2021–2022)
DirecTV Stream, Frndly TV, FuboTV, Hulu with Live TV, Philo, Sling TV, Vidgo TV
It was originally established in 1995 by Jones Radio Network as Great American Country (GAC), a country music channel. GAC was later acquired by Scripps Networks and, in turn, Discovery Inc. Under Scripps, GAC's format was widened to include lifestyle programming pertaining to the American Heartland and the South, but the network did continue carrying some country music-related programming for a period.
In June 2021, GAC was acquired by GAC Media—a new ownership group that includes former Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott and Hicks Equity Partners. On September 27, 2021, the network was relaunched as GAC Family (later Great American Family), with a format and original programming strategy mirroring Abbott's former employer Hallmark Channel (including an emphasis on original television films tied to holidays), and leveraging talent previously associated with that network. The previous country lifestyle format was moved to Ride TV—a second channel acquired by GAC Media–which was concurrently relaunched as the sister network GAC Living (later Great American Faith & Living). In 2022, Abbott described the network as featuring a mix of secular and "soft" faith-based programming.
As of February 2015, GAC was available to approximately 59 million television households (51% of pay television customers) in the United States.[1]
Carriage[edit]
On November 5, 2010, AT&T U-verse dropped all Scripps Networks, including GAC, due to a carriage dispute over an increase in retransmission fees.[38] Two days later the dispute was resolved.[39][40]
In October 2021, GAC Media reached an agreement with over-the-top service Frndly TV.[41]
In November 2021, Philo and GAC Media reached a deal to add GAC Living and GAC Family to the service beginning in early December 2021.[42]
